Will O' The Wisp
by Gentleman Crow
Summary: In which Sollux is expelled from his clan for communing with the dead and meets something strange in the woods. They always said not to follow the faerie lights.


Author's Note: Wow this is bad and I should feel bad.

My pal Bitey and I were talking about Jbriner (jbriner on tumblr if you want to go listen to his stuff!) and his AMAZING Eridan voice which he does with an Irish accent and I just so happened to be listening to some old Celtic love ballads on Pandora and Apples is always nagging me to write shorter fics and so this happened.

You can kick me out of the Fandom now…

**Will O' The Wisp**

Sollux ran.

He ran until he tasted blood in the back of his throat.

He ran until he could no longer feel the long grass pelting his bare shins or the thistle raking their claws across his ankles.

He ran until the sun faded in the west and the wolves howled in the shadows of the trees.

But the voices of the dead were swifter than his young legs, and spirits were unencumbered by such mortal foibles.

Exhausted, the boy crumpled into a heap in a cradle of tree roots and curled into himself, shutting his eyes tightly and pressing his hands against his ears. Along with the ever-present whispers from beyond, that night he was haunted by the voices of those still living. Of his father's screams of horror, of the decree of their chieftain that he should be cast out. A plague, a curse, a demon in disguise. Of course he knew that he was no death omen. He could only see the spirits of death as they hovered over homes and waited to reap the ripe souls ready to be plucked from the vine. He could no more bring them than he could chase them away. But no one else understood. To them, he was a child born of death who had killed his mother to give himself life and had been cursed with one eye brown as grave dirt, the other blue as the skin of a corpse with which to see into the realm of spirits. He had been a curse on their clan the moment of conception and they had finally had enough.

His father had sat idly by as they stoned him and spat on him and called him things too unspeakable to remember. And Sollux had run. He had run from everything he had known into the wilds thick with savagery and unknown magicks without even thinking. Now, he lay in the embrace of an ancient tree, shivering from the cold, bleeding, and weak with hunger. He would have prayed for death, but he could see none of the pallid, faceless wraiths that always came to touch the dying with their bony fingers of release. However, as his mismatched eyes stared into the darkness a very different light appeared before him in the mists.

A playful violet orb floated among the jagged branches, illuminating their wicked maws and turning them from fearsome silhouettes of imagined beasts into emerald boughs reaching soothingly for him once more. Sollux sat up, intrigued. He rubbed the dirt and the tears from his eyes and blinked up into the pulsing core of the ball of light. It drew closer, as if just as curious as he, and he reached out trembling fingers to touch. The glittering thing flitted boldly closer, touched the outstretched fingertips, and rang with joy before looping backwards invitingly. Sollux hesitated, but the ball of light swooped back toward him, beckoning eagerly and vanished at once into the thicket of trees. The boy gasped, and rose from the ground to follow.

The light was easily caught up to as it bounced whimsically through the canopy and circled branches, leaves, and flowers as if seeing them for the first time. It brought a long absent smile to Sollux's lips as he trotted along after it, forgetting the sting of his cuts and scrapes, the ache in his bones and heart, and the burn in his chest. The sweet smell of salt air, the soothing fog, and the gentle whisper of the trees gradually took him over and banished every ill from body and soul. The boy followed dutifully into a moonlit glade not far from where he had fallen where the trees were thin and he could see the silver stars twinkling over the horizon. The ocean roared majestically just below the rocky cliffs along the edge and in the middle of the clearing stood a young boy. His hair was raven black, but his eyes shone bright amethyst even in the hoary light of the witching hour. He danced barefoot in the grass with the same purple lights that lead his visitor to his sacred glen and a circle of mushrooms glistening with dew grew round him and his revels. His pale skin was draped in purple silk and his slender body moved to a melody only he could hear.

Sollux paused in the shadows to watch, spellbound, but his guide rocketed forward and lighted on the boy's shoulder. He turned, as if it spoke in human words into his pointed ear, and looked with wonder upon his intruder.

"Are… Are you a faerie?" Sollux asked him in a small voice.

The other boy nodded enthusiastically and darted forward, grabbing his sullied fingers with his pale, elegant ones.

"My name is Eridan!" he responded with joy, "And you?"

"Sollux," the human child answered, glancing around, "What are you doing out here?"

"I'm always here. I send the lights out every night but no one ever comes!" Eridan cried, his voice wavering with sheer elation.

Sollux frowned.

"You're all alone?"

Eridan smiled brightly, his face flickering as his companion lights circled them both.

"Not anymore. I mean, if you want to come with me," he said pleadingly.

Sollux bit his lip and looked over his shoulder, back from whence he had come. The faerie's hands tightened on his and tugged him closer to his circle.

"Come on. Listen. Can you not hear it? Clear and sweet as a bell?" he persisted.

Looking back, Sollux narrowed his eyes, at first skeptically, but then they softened. A gentle wind blew around his feet and through his hair, whispering instead of the grimly familiar messages of death a sweet, enchanting song. It was made of the wind and the sea, of the sparkle of the dew on the mushrooms and the gentle flicker of the stars. It was the stuff of dreams and the gray dawn between them and waking. It was warm fragrant earth and sweet water on the tongue and light all around and never hearing those icy raspings again.

With his eyes closed and a smile on his face, Sollux stepped into the circle.

"I told you," he heard Eridan's voice beside him.

Gentle hands wiped the dirt from his cheeks and smoothed over his lips and he didn't need to open his eyes to know the beautiful creature was smiling.

"My home is beneath the sea. But don't worry! You'll be safe! I promise I'll keep you safe always!"

Sollux nodded.

"Keep your eyes shut."

There was mirth in that melodious voice. A voice relieved of loneliness and filled with the airiness of hope. His hands were warm and strong, his feet sure and true on the ground. He trusted him as he led him through the clearing and to the sea cliff where he could feel the upswells on his toes and hear the echo of the surf against the rocks.

"Don't let go of me. No matter what."

Sollux held his breath, but never did he loose his grip on Eridan's hands. In a moment they had leapt from the cliff and fell through the air, weightless, breathless, through the air. The song rang crystal clear in his ears as they plunged fearlessly to the dark sea below, and Sollux finally opened his eyes. Eridan peered back at him, smiling as he fell backwards, their hands joined, and burst into blinding violet light that enveloped them both as the other boy opened his lips to take his very first breath as they vanished from the mortal world together into the water.


End file.
